Luka Chuppi, A Different Film With the Same Hysteria

Laxman Utekar’s film Luka Chuppi starring Kartik Aryan, Kriti Shanon, Aparshakti Khurana, and Pankaj Tripathi is this week’s mega release. Banking on the comedy quotient and the star cast along with a stellar performance of Pankaj Tripathi this film is riding high on success.

Much like any other Bollywood film these days, it follows the same predictable plot of telling a tale of a pertinent social with a quirky and funny anecdote.

The film chronicles the struggles of modern couple Guddu and Rashmi of finding love and marriage in this fast-paced technology-driven world of today. It shows the same dilemma of live-in relationship and marriage but here Luka Chuppi differs from other films.

Strong- Points

As it deals with the couple and the primary relationship viewing nature of the people, it subtly touches various core issues and makes us look into the eye of social problems.

While the couple fight to make their way from a live-in relationship to marriage, they are bothered by the activities of the society which not only gives them rest but steers their personal love.

From the nosy relative who creates a ruckus to the noisy snooping aunty – all have a take on their life. While the family members and neighbors bicker it gives a clear mirror of the society.

A society where you have to raise your voice to make a noise because only noise is believable. Unless you make a noise it isn’t the truth. You realize this, when you see the youngest member of the Guddu’s family, his little nephew comes running wearing “raise your voice and make a noise” t-shirt amidst all the chaos.

The film subtly touches the ways society views normal things and refuses to look in the eye of the problem. A society where culture and religion have become synonymous to one another, so much so that you disregard a person because of his religion. A moment where Guddu’s friend jokingly says, “Musalman hu, dusre grahe se nahi aya hu”, shows the way.

During the whole film, there are instances where the characters question our normal tendencies – our way of stereotyping people like a person with a beard is believed to be a Muslim while a woman with a sindoor is believed to be married.

In other instances, it questions the meaning of love and how it changes over time and the interpretation varies from person to person. While it may be an addiction which sticks to our body like a perfume but it’s still our inner fragrance that matters the most. As the sadhu says “prem hain to sab kuch pavitre hain” but what is this love is a choice and a riddle to each man.

Weak-Points

Despite all these instances of a good outlook, the film repeats the same mistakes as those done by the films in the past. Hence, it falls short and stumbles in the second half.

Though subtly but the film still showcases the narrow-mindedness of a city and a town barrier. Unwillingly it compares the life of tier 1 and tier 2/3 city and often pits them against each other. As if there isn’t a problem in a big city and all the bad things happen in a small city. Sometimes it feels like the panacea of all the problems is moving into a big city and getting lost in the anonymity.

Another glaring aspect of this film is its treatment of the generation gap. Like any other typical Bollywood film, it’s an all-black and all white situation where the younger generation has a modern and atypical view of the world while the older generation lumbers in the shackles of time and age-old traditions. Through the film, it always feels like a stereotypical generation gap. Nowhere has it sounded like a gap of understanding properly, the gap of perception, the gap of living in a different time. It underlines the generation gap but not the gap in time.

Last but not the least, the film follows the same trajectory of the latest movies of this kind where it is shown in the first half the younger generation is flying towards the allure of something and then later realizing the real essence of life and settling down, often questioning their previous activities. It shows a clash of carefree attitude to one more responsible and homely attitude. It’s as if there’s a different world view – one for the whole world and one for your family. It doesn’t showcase the oneness in living in a society where there isn’t any contradiction between you and the other, where the betterment of others also includes the betterment of you. One where your world view should be the same irrespective of your life. One where the meaning of belonging is complete and there’s no clash between the family and the outside world.

This is how Luka Chuppi, named after a pivotal moment, an instance of the film chronicles society. It conquers some points and fails in some other but still, it’s worth a watch.

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About The Author

Pratiti Nath

A young M.Sc. Biotechnology graduate with a flair for the written word. A bookworm by heart and a maritime editor/freelance writer by choice. A resident of the city joy, this young lady is a combination of foodie-wanderlust-stargazer. A traveler with eccentric ways on predictable paths. She goes by the pseudonym 'Agantuk' and can also be reached at http://wwww.agantukthestrangersdesk.wordpress.com/